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JULY 2009

Cover Story & Featured Stories

The Poverty of Philosophy

CPM and its tailist loyalists can’t find the ground beneath their feet. They are fast losing the ABC of Dialectical Materialism
Amit Sengupta Delhi

No interpreter of maladies

Uninterrupted power for 32 years has blunted the sensibilities of the Left to feel the pulse of the people. The communists had raised expectations when they swept to power in 1977. But, they failed to live up to it. Instead, they injected sloth and nepotism in every state-run institution

Rakhi Chakrabarty Kolkata/Delhi

BEST of times, WORST of times

For 32 years, the CPM has replaced the rule of law by partisan rule in West Bengal, specialising in crimes like.....
Sunanda Sanyal Kolkata

A Synthesiser for Mamata

The fiery Mamata Banerjee, obsessed with throwing out “fascist CPM” from Bengal, loves her spartan lifestyle
Rakhi Chakrabarty Delhi

All’s not LOST for CPM

Given the strong traditions of anti-Congress, anti-BJP ideology of Bengal, it is theoretically possible for the CPM to recover lost ground if they make some course corrections
Nilanjana Gupta Kolkata

Injustice is LAAL

The peaceful struggle of the poor people of Lalgarh retells a history of abysmal poverty and pain, total absence of good governance, and the corrupt regime of armed CPM goons
Aritra Bhattacharya Lalgarh

Caught between State and Maoists

While the Chhattisgarh government claims that Salwa Judum is a spontaneous civilian movement of tribals against the atrocities of Maoists....
Harsh Dobhal Lingagiri/ Dantewada

At the Epicentre: Neither Spring, nor Thunder

So, whatever happened to the peasant revolt led by Naxalite legend Charu Majumdar in the original birth place of the revolution 42 years after?
Chaman Lal Naxalbari (West Bengal

Something Sinister about it

There’s more to Operation Lalgarh than ‘flushing out’ Maoists
Amit Sengupta Delhi

More Stories from this Issue

Bidding Riddle

GAIL India has a spectacular track record in project implementation. But now, the company is caught in litigation due to a tender-related controversy that threatens to put its key investment behind schedule
Noor Mohammad Delhi

This wonderful Doc...

Beena Sarwar

As a comrade, his relationship with Abba was an unspoken clear bond based on a shared understanding of the universal struggle for a just human order,” says Salima Hashmi, Faiz’s daughter.

We don’t need their education

Rupa Gulab

A German friend once asked me why so many Indians migrated to the West. "Education and washing machines," I airily informed her.

Blackmailers having a ball

Sanjay Kapoor

For quite a while Pakistanis were a bit embarrassed about what was happening in the country. The prognosis from western experts was not good.

Frame a RESPONSE

For any modern State, the complexity of the problem requires an equally complex response by the government
Manohar Thyagaraj Delhi

Re-imagine the SACRED…

The international Fez festival of music, spirituality and philosophy turns knowledge and hope luminescent. Yes, life’s not so bleak anymore
Akshay Bakaya Fes (Morocco)/Paris

Saffron sunset

Did the RSS tacitly back Congress in the Lok Sabha elections?
Sanjay Kapoor Delhi

Zero Hour Hunger

The only worry is that the proposed National Food Security Act of the Congress-led regime should not push the hungry deeper into a virtual hell
Devinder Sharma Delhi

A dera in exile

Sikhs are still struggling to cope with the bloody violence inside a place of worship in Austria
Mehru Jaffer Vienna

STIFLED FREEDOM

Iranians do not want to change the entire system. But, they do want more personal liberties and a good government that can tackle corruption. And, they want to be connected with the rest of the world
Shubha Singh Tehran/Delhi

From futile to fertile

Mehru Jaffer

It is no secret that Hassan bin Talal preferred to give up the throne of Jordan rather than his liberal views. He was crown prince between 1965 and 1999.

Until Nandigram happened…

Amit Sengupta

Albert Camus would say that it's the human condition which creates the recipe for rebellion: rebellion is a priori in the human condition.

Diabolic Divine Dupe

Clearly, this was a well-oiled joint family fraud, minting millions with magic realism, super conman Jadeja style
Hardnews Bureau Ahmedabad

That Curtain Call…

This Naya Theatre was folk magic and high art, as rooted and relevant as Habib Saab and his amazing band of committed Chhattisgarhi actors
Salim Arif Mumbai

A card to life

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna, one of the largest mass health insurance programmes in the world, addresses the health concerns of the poor and unorganised workers
Samarth Pathak Jhajjar (Haryana)/Bijnore (UP)

Playing it BACKWARD

All major political parties are involved in an intense fight to consolidate their support base among backward classes in UP
Pradeep Kapoor Lucknow